Last NCAA Appearance:
2011 (3-1 at College Station Regional; 2-1 at Tallahassee Super
Regional; 0-2 at College World Series)

Notes: The Aggies
return to the field for the sixth time in Rob Childress’ seven
years. Childress has built his program on pitching (.235 BAA
this season), and the Aggies have responded with 41 wins a
season under his direction. Led by all-conference (and
all-world) pitchers Michael Wacha (17 BB, .231 BAA) and Ross
Stripling (16 BB, .221 BAA), A&M ranks fifth in the country in
ERA and third in K/BB ratio (3.46). Couple that with great speed
– the Aggies are fourth in the country in stolen bases – and
Texas A&M has matched its win total from last year entering the
tourney. Tyler Naquin backed last year’s Big 12 POY year with
another strong year and was first-team all-conference. He was
joined by Jacob House, who had a third of the Aggies’ homers.

Notes: TCU is in the tourney field for the ninth
straight year, one of 10 teams that can boast that, and 11th
time overall. The Horned Frogs failed to win the MWC automatic
bid for the second straight year (they’ve won six of nine
tourneys) but went 14-13 against Regional competition – that
includes a 4-1 loss to host Texas A&M. They would need to win
the Regional to have a shot at extending their 40-win-season
streak to six under Jim Scholssnagle, the 2010 NCBWA coach of
the year. Freshman Preston Morrison made history as the league
Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer of the Year – he lost his first
game in the conference tourney and ranks among the nation’s
leaders in WHIP and is fifth in the nation in K/BB ratio (8.0).
Sophomore Andrew Mitchell ranks fifth in the nation in Ks per 9
(12.01). The Horned Frogs will be without senior Jason Coats, a
career .336 hitter entering this year who was leading the team
in most categories. He suffered a torn ACL in the final regular
season game on May 20.

Notes: Ole Miss has
made 10 postseason appearances in 12 seasons with Mike Bianco at
the helm. Junior second baseman Alex Yarbrough, who has just two
errors this season, is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Award,
which is given to the top player in the country. Sophomore
pitcher Bobby Wahl is a member of the USA Baseball National
Team. Seven Ole Miss alumni played in the major leagues in 2011,
the most among all SEC schools. Coach Mike Bianco reached the
College World Series as the starting catcher at LSU in 1989, and
he was part of three national championship teams as an assistant
for the Tigers between 1993 and 1997.

Notes: Dayton is making
its first NCAA tourney appearance after ending the season with
nine wins in the last 10 games, including six consecutive. The
Flyers lead the nation in stolen bases (162), featuring eight
players with 10 or more steals. Tony Vittorio led the Flyers
from a 2-9 start to a share of the A-10 regular season title and
its first conference tournament crown. SS Brian Blasik has a
career .348 BA and owns UD career (64) and single-season (35 -
2012) stolen base records. CF Bobby Glover leads with nine
homeruns, 131 total bases and a .421 SLG%. RF C.J. Gillman ranks
in the NCAA top-20 in RBI (63). Pitchers Burny Mitchem and Mike
Hauschild rank in the top three in career strikeouts at UD.
Mitchem (318) is first and Hauschild (264) is second. Two
current major-league pitchers are Jerry Blevins (Athletics) and
Craig Stammen (Nationals).